Eiko Haraguchi

Name: Eiko Haraguchi

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: 12th

School: Bayview Secondary

Hobbies and Interests: Leadership club, business and economics, tea, business cards

Appearance: Eiko is a slender Japanese girl (5’6”, 123 lbs) with shoulder-length black hair and dark eyes with thick lashes. She wears designer glasses with thin, golden frames on top of the lenses and no frames beneath. Sometimes she will wear a three-piece slate gray suit with blouse and high heels. At other times, she’ll wear modest clothing like jumper dresses, trousers, and turtlenecks. All of her clothing is clean and well-made. Her posture is generally formal and upright, and she usually looks attentive and friendly, with a small smile on her face.

Biography: Until last year, Eiko lived a charmed life in Tokyo. Her father Masaru worked for the Japanese branch of Best Buy for most of Eiko’s life, making a comfortable living as an executive on a first-name basis with the company president. She attended a prestigious private school in Tokyo and was well on her way to getting into Tokyo University when office politics threw her a curveball.

After Masaru led a high-profile project to success, the CEO of Best Buy personally requested Masaru’s presence at the company’s headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota. Unfortunately, he would have to move to Minnesota in order to work there, and therefore his family was coming, too. Eiko objected at first, but ultimately relented after talking to her father. She moved to Minnesota in the summer, and started her senior year at Bayview High School in neighboring St. Paul. After a rough transition to American culture, Eiko is on her way to adjusting to her new home and looking forward to graduation.

Eiko has a close relationship with her family; as the family member with the best grasp of the English language, she sees it as her duty to help them adjust to American life. Her father is absent from home often, working at his new job at Richfield, her mother Kimiko is a homemaker who associates with other housewives in the Bayview neighborhood, and her younger brother Ayumu attends Bayview Elementary. The four of them are a tight-knit group, more used to interacting with each other than their new peers.

Eiko is polite to a fault, and always eager to socialize, although she tends to be a bit picky about the people she’ll approach. Generally it will be those students who are most like her, i.e. successful, intelligent, and with a good sense of taste and dignity. She remains uncomfortable among the rougher and more casual crowd at school, speaking with them politely, but reluctant to keep in touch with them. Some at school think of her as an elitist, and deep down, she kind of is. She is also studious and hardworking, a product of the best schools (regular and cram) the Japanese education system has to offer.

Ultimately, her ambition seems to be following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a mover and shaker in the business world. She does well in most subjects, but excels in areas dealing with mathematics and economics, and is an active member in Bayview’s Leadership Club. In addition to maintaining a high GPA, she does her best to make a good impression on everyone she meets, networking with anyone who could help her succeed in life.

This ambition persisted since her years in Japan, when she displayed much interest in the country’s famous tea ceremony. Even since coming to America, she makes sure to bring some imported tea for lunch at school. Tea seems to be one of her few hobbies outside of business.

Advantages: Eiko has shown great ambition in high school, dedicating nearly all of her actions to activities that will further her education and ultimately help her climb the corporate ladder; The Program may just be another obstacle for her. She's had only a year to bond with her school's student body, and despite rumors that she "knows everyone", she's acquainted at best with no more than a handful of other students. {C}Disadvantages: Eiko values her reputation above all else, and there's no quicker way to destroy it than to kill people on national television. She will therefore be reluctant to get her foot in the door. In addition, she's spent her whole life as a privileged girl, and will have trouble making the transfer to a deadly island with no means of support.

Designated Number: Female Student no. 079

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Designated Weapon: SOTF Lunchbox {C}Conclusion: G079's pride is likely not going to bring her longevity on the island, however if she lets go of her old reputation and embraces the new reputation of being a winner on SOTF...well, let's just say I predict an increase of lunchbox sales!

'The above biography is as written by Solitair. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Kills: None

Killed By: N/A, Escaped

Collected Weapons: SOTF lunchbox (destroyed), Sodegarami (from Lucas Lupradio, destroyed)

Allies: Peter Siu, Tiffany Baker, William Hearst

Enemies: Ericka Bradley, Lucas Lupradio, Jason Harris, Liam Brooks, Kris Hartmann

Mid-Game Evaluation: Eiko awoke in the Mansion and grasped the situation in which she found herself fairly quickly. After some crying, which left her disheveled, she departed the Mansion. At that point, she ran into Peter Siu, and while she was at first prone to more tears, she pulled herself together to accept his protection. Her outlook came down to the fact that she didn't want to die, but killing and becoming a murderer would destroy her dreams of making it in the business world as a CEO. The pair returned to the Mansion at Peter's behest, as he wanted to unload some of the excess items he'd brought for the camping trip; these included a plethora of clothing and a copy of Cranium (the game). While sneaking into the Mansion, they encountered Hermione Miller, who was quickly losing her willingness to deal with the reality of the situation. Eiko snuck upstairs, but Mia Kuiper followed her; Peter followed her in turn and pulled his sword to threaten her. Harun Kemaland Rashid Hassancame to Mia's aid, but with Eiko's help the situation was defused.

Eiko and Peter remained in the Mansion long enough to unload Peter's extra belongings and considered going to the small hut on the Greens. They stayed outside long enough to hear it declared a danger zone and to see Clio Gabriella (already an announced killer) among those fleeing the site. They then embarked on a circumnavigation of the island, one which led them back to the Greens again. During this trip, Eiko was by turns annoyed by Peter and grateful to have his protection. Eiko and Peter then found Lucas Lapradio and Ericka Bradley engaged in a standoff. Eiko hung back while Peter attempted to intervene. Ericka retreated a ways before opening fire on Lucas. While Peter tried to get Lucas out of the line of fire, the latter took a lethal bullet to the stomach. Panicked, Lucas shot wildly around him. As these shots whizzed past Eiko, Peter took umbrage at the apparently unprovoked attack and convinced himself to slit Lucas's throat. Eiko couldn't watch, but did muster up the courage to yell at the retreating Ericka. Eiko then convinced Peter to head toward a more populated area.

Upon reaching a residential area and getting some rest, Eiko and Peter met up with William Hearstand Tiffany Baker. Eiko defended Peter's choice to kill Lucas as detailed in Danya's latest announcement. The new group of four then went to the swamp to retrieve some items Tiffany had left behind. Once there, they split up by gender to search for Tiffany's belongings. Liam Brooksand Jason Harriscame upon them, and when Jason thought he saw Tiffany pointing a gun at Brook, he shot and killed her. Eiko, having dropped into a ball upon seeing Jason approach with the gun, called for Peter. When Peter and William arrived at the scene, she attempted to help Tiffany along with the others to no avail: Tiffany died quickly. Eiko, along with the rest of the group, confronted Jason, who lashed out. In the chaos, Brook picked up Tiffany's body and fled the scene. Eiko pursued him briefly, but he confronted her, punching her in the jaw and screaming a ethnic slur at her before taking off, Tiffany's body still in his possession. Eiko was knocked into the swamp water, a situation that crystallized her desire to survive her time on the island.

At this point, Peter and William each left on their own quests, leaving Eiko alone. She happened upon Aston Bennettwhile en route to the Mansion and followed her to the mouth of the Tunnels, quickly finding herself in the middle of a discussion between Anna Chaseand Aston Bennett about the disintegration of their group. The other two girls left shortly thereafter upon hearing a nearby gunshot. While Anna was somewhat friendly and said she'd be back with Aston, they did not meet up again on the island.

Eiko continued on to the Mansion and found the clothing Peter had left for her there, along with some extra crackers. Alone and increasingly desperate, Eiko found herself near the Town Center when Danya announced that there was a Best Kill Award weapon in the location. that was unclaimed. Upon arrival she found Kris Hartmannon the box containing the weapon. Eiko tried to speak with her, but upon hearing Kris's threat of having a C4 bomb in her bag, she approached with more caution. Still, she became increasingly agitated, her thoughts heading toward murdering Kris. When Kris dropped the bag to retrieve the BKA weapon (a grenade launcher) and was holding it, Eiko attacked with the sodegarami. Kris deflected the attack with the unloaded grenade launcher despite her surprise at having seen R.J. Lowedrop dead before her seconds earlier from a burst appendix. Eiko collapsed when her charge was thwarted, begging for her life. Somewhere in her mounting insanity, Kris chose to let her leave, an opportunity she quickly took. Having escaped a bad situation with Kris, she snapped, destroying the sodegarami and breaking down in tears.

Exhausted, Eiko slept, waking the next morning to hear the announcement of the arrival of the rescue ships. Upon arriving at the beach Eiko talked to one of the STAR personnel, asking why Peter can't come along. At that point she learned that since leaving her, Peter had killed two girls without provocation. She laments his choice to leave her and become a killer, forsaking rescue, but she boards the ship after having her collar removed, bound for home with the other rescued students.

Post-Game Evaluation: Well, G079 turned out to be very talented both at lying low when the bullets were flying and destroying her weapons. Too bad she scuttled off the island before following through on her murderous impulses, though.

Memorable Quotes: "COME BACK HERE! YOU ALMOST GOT ME KILLED, YOU STUPID BITCH!" --Eiko, futilely berating Ericka after the latter started a gunfight

"You couldn't have just pointed the gun at her? You couldn't have talked to her? No, you had to shoot her first, BAKAYARO!" --Eiko, to Jason after he panicked and shot Tiffany

"P-please...I'm so sorry...I don't want to die..." --Eiko begging Kris not to kill her after the former's unsuccessful ambush of the latter

"Idiot. We could have left together if you stayed with me." --Eiko while being rescued at the beach, lamenting that Peter had abandoned her and turned to violence.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Eiko, in chronological order.

The Past:
 * Where East Meets West

Pre-Game:
 * English, wherefore art thou?
 * Chicken Soup for the Soul
 * 9 Out of 10 Students Say Statistics Suck
 * A Dish Best Served Apprehensive

V4: Post-Game:
 * White Knight Nightmare
 * Don't go breaking my heart...
 * Not an Easy Out
 * March to your Death
 * It's Everything's Nature to Fall
 * Amazing Journey/Sparks
 * Feral Intelligence
 * A Slight Change of Plans
 * Have It Your Way
 * Paradigm Shift

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Eiko Haraguchi. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * I really liked her character: she had clear motivations throughout, and her descent into desperation near the end felt organic to me. Her status as being somewhat on the outside of the deep social connections worked for her interactions with some major villains, and she demonstrated nice growth during her story arc. - penguin_alien
 * Yeah, Eiko was definitely a good character. Solitair's whole cast was good, and Eiko stood out above the rest. She took a concept that SOTF has frankly probably seen too much of (immigrant student still enmeshed in their native culture and trying to adapt to America) and actually made it believable, relatable, and interesting. She was not defined solely by being foreign, and she was a character who always added an interesting perspective to a scene. In the game, she slid further and further towards making serious mistakes, but was able to keep herself together just enough to stay sane. Eiko was saved physically by the rescue, but it also felt like it was what allowed her to stay together mentally, in a way that would not have happened had she made it out the traditional way.

That it's so easy to imagine other paths for Eiko is a testament to the depth and quality of her character. It was great to see what we did of her after the game. I do wish, though, things had gone a bit further. Eiko's motivation was always very focused on her future, so I think it'd have been really cool to see a bit of whatever future she ended up having. - MurderWeasel